Review: 'One Happy Tiger' by Catherine Rayner

I've been to the library with Ezra again and picked up this little gem of a book.

I have a vague memory of reading 'Augustus and His Smile' with Eleanor a few years ago and really loving it. I adore Catherine Rayner's illustration style - how you can see the sketching and experimenting that goes into each picture and yet they are still all so realistic. I think it's a really good way of showing children that art doesn't have to be 'perfect' in the conventional sense to be beautiful and evocative. There are pencil lines showing and paint bleeding and yet each illustration is a joy to look at. I may well point this out to my perfectionist five year old!

The reason I chose this book for Ezra is because, as well as introducing counting, it introduces feelings. It's very important to me that both my children grow up to be emotionally literate - to recognise feelings in themselves and others and respond appropriately. While feelings do come up in many board books, I was impressed at the range of emotions covered by this little book - it goes beyond the usual 'happy' and 'sad' to show various more subtle emotions such as curiosity and surprise.

At the moment Ezra isn't as in love with the book as I am - he prefers rhyming books, or books with actions - but I might revisit this book when he's a little older as I just love the gentle way it introduces different emotional states. And the illustrations are just lovely - the detail in every page is so fascinating to study.

It's not often you find a counting book worth writing about but this is definitely one. It's so lovely to read, to look at, to talk about and has a depth you rarely get with counting books. As soon as Ezra is showing more of an interest in numbers I'll be getting this book again!

Linking up with #ReadWithMe hosted by Mama Mummy Mum and Kids Love To Read #KLTR hosted by Laura's Lovely Blog and The Inspiration Edit.